This invention relates to dispensers for flexible sheet material, such as toilet tissue, in which a reserve roll is automatically movable from its stored position into a dispensing position upon dissipation of sheet material from the supply roll, and for means for conveniently storing the residual portions of dissipated rolls and their removal upon opening of the dispenser cover.
Flexible sheet material dispenser devices having the capability of moving a reserve roll into a sheet dispensing position upon dissipation of sheet material from the original supply roll, are known. One such example is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,770,222 granted Nov. 6, 1973 to Paul W. Jespersen and assigned to the assignee hereof. The device shown in this patent, while being relatively simple in design and effective in operation, suffers from certain disadvantages. For example, the patented dispenser organization relies for support of the supply roll upon the wall of the dispenser cabinet thereby increasing to a significant extent the undesirable effects of friction on the operation. Deriving support of the supply roll by its continual contact with the cabinet wall not only adds to the amount of force required to be imparted by a user in withdrawing sheet material from the dispenser, it also creates the danger of damage to the delicate sheet material being dispensed caused by the erosive effects of the material rubbing against the wall surface as the supply roll rotates during the withdrawal of sheet material.
Another deleterious characteristic of prior art devices of the concerned type is that, commonly, the residual elements of the spent supply rolls, namely the core and spindle end caps therefor, are discharged by simply being permitted to fall from the open bottom of the dispenser and thus become an eyesore to the environs of the dispenser. Where the problem has been addressed, the solutions proposed involving closing the bottom of the dispenser to form a collection compartment is less than totally satisfactory due to the problem of gaining access to the elements for ultimate disposal.
It is to the amelioration of the above problems, therefore, to which the present invention is directed.
Prior art dispensers such as disclosed in aforementioned U.S. Pat. No. 3,770,222 are also arranged such that the fall of a reserve roll to the dispensing position is broken at a position well within the dispenser, out of hands reach, so that a user whose hand happens to be inserted into the dispensing opening does not experience injury or unpleasant surprise due to the impact of a falling reserve roll at the time of roll replacement. This leads to the need for a depth dimension of the dispenser which is substantially greater than the diameter of the rolls of sheet material. Accordingly, a larger space must be allocated for the dispenser. Furthermore, such prior art arrangements do little to alleviate the potentially disturbing noise caused by the sudden impact of a falling roll within the dispenser.
Accordingly, there is a need for a dispenser design that avoids the above-described potential problems associated with the impact of a reserve roll falling to a dispensing position, without requiring a dispenser depth dimension substantially greater than the roll diameter.